DVD battle will end in stalemate

ANY FORMAT war between HD-DVD and Blu-Ray will end in a draw, according to a report prepared by Screen Digest.

Screen Digest analyst Graham Sharpless, who penned the report said that the two formats will only net $11 billion of the total $39 billion expected to be spent on video discs by 2010 in the United States, Europe and Japan.

He said that the format war and the publicity it has generated has killed off consumer appetite. Sharpless said that unlike the way DVD bumped off VHS buy providing a universal format in a more convenient way to own movies, this time both formats had similar features.

Unfortunately people are starting to lose interest in DVDs because punters had built up libraries of their favourite movies and TV shows.

Screen Digest thinks that that the two formats will co-exist until a combined disk becomes cost-effective. Sharpless doubts that a side will emerge victorious or that both will flop so badly that the format will to be driven into extinction.

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